


Saving You Yesterday

by Nightmare Painter (daiyu_amaya)



Category: Batman: The Animated Series
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Consensual Sex, Kidnapping, M/M, Non-Consensual Bondage, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-14 14:32:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5747971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daiyu_amaya/pseuds/Nightmare%20Painter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being captured was one thing, Batman would frown on that of course, but being captured and held captive with The Joker? That was a whole story that he really didn't want to share with Batman because he was pretty sure Batman wouldn't understand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bound Birds

**Author's Note:**

> And yeah sorry about how short this is, this isn't where my muses started but I needed to explain a little how they got into the situation in the first place

Being Robin, he saw and heard things that most people might never see or hear in their lives. He felt a little gypped though, given the reason he knew things...Things that Bruce knew, the pain-loneliness and loss. When his parents died he'd screamed in fear, pain, anger, and sadness. Those were the things he'd learned early on and he continued to hear the echo's of his own scream from children, mothers, fathers, and siblings...Why did Gotham have to be so dark? Why did it create such evil? Speaking of evil, when would The Joker show his hand? They hadn't found anyone who'd seen hide nor hair of the psychopath for over two weeks, not since he'd escaped, killing two guards on his way out.

  
And damn it how many times would they have to put him away? It was like Arkham was more of a hotel then a place of healing, it was almost if they didn't give a rats ass about how many people they didn't cure, about how many people were hurt and died because they couldn't cure those who were put into their care.  
He froze as a scream ripped through the usually noisy night time air, and he swore it sounded like The Joker, but he'd never heard the man utter that kind of scream-it sounded so...So primal, so angry and honestly he wasn't sure if his mind had just made it up or not. What were the odds that he'd be the one to find him, not only to find him but to hear that kind of gut-wrenching scream? He glanced down into the skylight where he was pretty sure the scream had come from and something was happening down there but, he wasn't sure exactly what. 

He saw a flash of tan skin and blond hair, but nothing of The Joker, no deathly pale skin or the shock of dark green hair. A scuff of a shoe-how had they snuck up on him?-Warned him that someone had snuck up behind him. As he turned he realized in that split second that it was far too late for him to do anything as a fist came slamming down onto his head. He tried to back off, his head reeling, his vision spotted with lights-another punch sent him sliding against the graveled roof-darkness consuming him.

When his vision cleared he realized that he was no longer in the same place, he found himself dangling from metal-in the shape of an X given how his hands and feet were bound spread apart and then he realized something very important, The only thing on his person was his mask-Otherwise all his clothes were gone and damn it what was the number of that truck that had hit him? "Oh, so the little birdie’s awake now." The voice sounded amused as he popped open his eyes, it was dimly lit in the room so it didn't hurt his head too much-only to find himself pointed in the direction of the bed, a bed that held The Joker right in his line of sight...Nude, obviously beaten, and bound.

  
A blond man came into his view, most likely the one who'd spoken earlier. "First off, how old are you?" Did it matter? The bastard was going to rape him wasn't he? "Twenty." Or at least he was close, but he didn't want to tell the jerk that-he might find all the nineteen year olds and hunt him down again. Find out his real name-though he might do that if he took the mask. Though if he was going to do that he would have done so already. "We're going to have so much fun with you." And he didn't like the sound of that nor the leer on the blonds’ face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a fairly messed up story that my mind came up with and I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to post it, however here it is. This Joker isn't really funny, as I have pretty much no sense of humor-sorry bout that! I know he'd crack jokes through most of this, so yeah also sorry for the OCs. One was just someone to have for a villain and the other was just a tie into one of the versions of Jokers possible pasts and yeah I know its stupid-but my muses decided that I should do that. Thankfully the story is more about Joker and Robin then the dumb OCs yay! ALSO! I dislike calling Richard 'Dick' or 'Dickie'-I prefer his name but I use the contraction when Bruce, Alfred, and Barbra Gordon are talking to him seeing in canon they do call him that T_T


	2. Bound For Pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back tracking a little bit for the Joker before getting to the main part of the story.

He was free! He grinned to himself, Arkham had never been a fantastic place at keeping inmates but now it was just too easy to get the guards to back off. They knew he'd go after their families, some didn't have any so they were usually the ones that met his Laughing Gas or a knife-really any gag he had on his person. He slipped over the wall to the grounds of the asylum and met a fleshy wall of resistance-He stumbled with a curse and felt hands on his back, turning with lethal force he slid the knife he had across his attackers face, their mask ripping open and a howl coming from their mouth. He snarled and raced away, it wouldn't do any good if he was caught. He wasn't ready to go back to that dull trap of an asylum, ha! As if there was any healing actual done at that forsaken place and as if the man was really from there.

  
"Grab him you dimwit!" Someone snarled before he was face down on the ground a needle being jabbed into his arm. Everything started to get all twisty and his stomach heaved. Once, Twice, before finally divulging it's contents. "Sick, get him up." Hands gripped his arms, weakly he struggled-whatever it was that was given to him though wasn't the normal stuff the asylum gave it's patients...Not that that stuff would affect him at any rate. Whatever this was, it was affecting him. He was nearly as immune as Poison Ivy to most poison's and toxins-so whatever this was...It was way better then the stuff your average tax payers could afford to fund the asylum.

He woke, something was wrong-he was use to being restrained but, the smell was wrong-Arkham had the bite of disinfectant, wet stone, mold, and dirty human beings. This place smelled like leather. Clean and crisp, not to mention this place was warm and well lit if the burn against his eyelids was any indication. Arkham was dank, dark, and cold. Besides they never tied him into a standing position, on a tiled floor before. So he'd gotten what he'd wanted, to get out of Arkham, but out of the pan into the fire. "Boss?" The goon who had yelled when they attacked him.

  
"You did a wonderful job Gibb, Leave us now." Gibb grunted and a door closed, Joker wasn't sure of what to make of this, who would want to kidnap him? Sure, he'd done a lot of fun things since he became who he was today-all the laughs, jokes, and punch lines he'd delivered to the wretched people of Gotham...But, why this? The man who’d hired the goons to capture him moved closer and something squeaked before a warm jet of water hit him square on the back, causing him to flinch; “Ah, awake now are we?” Joker opened his eyes, this wasn’t someone he knew-this wasn’t a grudge then, but what was this then? 

The blond, blue-eyed man ran a finger down his face and he couldn’t help but to wonder just how far into the fire he’d been tossed… “I’ve always thought there was something to you, more then the supposed madness.” Fuck, this was right in the heart of the fire and not a place he wanted to be. The man grabbed his face roughly and forced him to face the sick fucker. "We're going to play a little game you and I." He couldn't help the laugh that came out of his mouth; "Oh Goodie! Are we going to play truth or dare, oohhh how about a pillow fight!" The blond gave him a creepy smile; "Sure we'll play truth or dare." Ooookaaay...that was pretty messed up, what the hell was with this fruit loop? "Truth or dare?" Was he serious? They really were going to play, okay he hadn't counted on that and he thought he was the crazy one. "Truth." Not that the man would know the truth from a lie.  
  
The grin on the sicko's face only got wider or was it just him? "Have you ever had sex?" What? What kind of question was that! "I never kiss and tell." The man frowned; "Let me get this right, you would rather I dare you to do something then tell me the answer?" Uh...mh. Maybe he really should rethink that one? "I dare you not to flinch." And the freak reached around and pressed a finger against his puckered hole, he couldn't help but to jerk away-as much as he enjoyed being touched, he didn't like this blond touching him in such a personal manner. 

The man growled as he struggled against him, a fist slammed into his face, the water doing little more than making it sting afterwards. "You better stop it." How could he stop? This lunatic was touching him! Probably planned on raping him if this was any indication. "Fuck you!" He struggled but the bars holding his restraints must have been custom built into the structure itself because that had to be the reason he couldn't pull the bars down out of the walls, with the right kind of leverage an average bar should have come out-so since he couldn't do anything about that, he could do something about the restraints...If it wasn't for the fact that the man was in the room with him, he didn't even know his name for Christ sake. 

Just that his goons had managed to grab him the moment he made it off the asylum grounds, and that was shit-someone would have had to tell on him, and that meant that one of his men was a snitch, he didn't like snitches-though all snitches would get stitches in the end he'd make sure of that. Blondie frowned, Punching him in the gut; "Pay attention when I'm talking to you!" This wasn't happening, damn it. This couldn't be real, why was he here at this man's mercy? The blond stepped away for a moment and fetched what looked like red ribbon, what the hell was that for? He grunted when the Blond grabbed his junk, "This is what happens to bad boys." Fuck. 

The ribbon slid against his skin, tightening around his balls and dick. "We're going to continue playing our little game, this time, you get to ask me truth or dare." He didn't want to ask this freak! "Truth or dare?" Because murderous rage was starting to form the longer he was quite. "Truth." Well then, "Why are you doing this?" The blond freak frowned like that was a hard question. "Why not? Without the paint your not so bad looking." Freak with a freaks answer. The Blond shifted and the ribbon tightened even further. He looked down at the freaks handy work, well- at least if this had been consensual he would have liked his work. There were few Dom's that did their job brilliantly, but this man was a sick freak because he wasn't asking consent he was just doing whatever he felt like. The blond grinned ferally and went to fetch something else. What was he up to?

He fiddled with the restraints, they were too wet at this point to get a good enough grip and too tight to really move his wrist, the tip of his fingers were getting numb. What felt like an eternity later he found himself tied up in bed, Blondie’s goon from before carried in something black and red-and holy shit. That was Robin, what the hell was the guy doing with the boy blunder? Batman was going to fuck up their world that was for sure if they did anything to the young man. Though given the way they were stripping him, he was pretty sure he was going to kill the blond. Didn't he know not to mess with what was Batman's? The man wouldn't kill him, but he just might-He didn't want the brat to have to suffer this way, he'd already suffered quite a bit. While he was the cause of some of Grayson's suffering that was his right because the young man dressed as Robin, and as a part of the Rouge's gallery he had the right to mess with Robin and Batman for that matter.

  
What was going on now was just sick and wrong and that was saying something coming from him. They bound the boy on a rack in the shape of an X, the same one he'd just come down from. The one that the freaking bastard had flipped so that his head was upside down and he'd struggled against being upside down for such a long time-all his blood having rushed to his head, making him feel sick. He hoped the freak didn't do that to Grayson, because the things he'd done while...Well, that wasn't worth thinking about.


	3. Bound to Escape

The man tied his legs to either side of the Joker's hips and then jerked him forward-so that he was flush with the Joker. Tying his arms between the madman's on the headboard. "Watching the two of you is going to be so good." The pervert whispered in his ear, and god he was really going to force this wasn't he? He watched the Blond move to a panel and realized that it was connected to the bed as it began to rise when he pressed the top button. Forcing him to his knees and the Joker into a sitting position.

  
The blond moved again, this time behind him and he flinched against the thin chest of the Joker as the man rubbed a warm prick against him- Joker snarled, his eyes on the blond obvious because he wasn't looking at him. The rage on The Joker's face was actually pretty scary this close up, acid green eyes glowering, mouth for once not in a parody of a smile-but in a snarl of deep hatred. Apparently when The Joker really, really hated someone he was really scary and more insane looking then he'd ever seen him. That was pretty odd-because he knew The Joker was insane, but he'd never really...his insanity never looked this-This evil.

Sure, he'd done plenty of evil things but, the man himself never looked evil. The blond shifted a little on the bed and then it was inside him. He smashed his eyes closed, he didn't want the burning pain that raced its way up his ass-nor the jolt of electricity that went up his spine. Joker let out a hiss and then as if commenting on the weather; "Just breath kid, it hurts worse when you're all tight." and so he took a deep breath-the Joker was right, if he relaxed and breathed it wouldn't hurt nearly as bad, but it still hurt of course. "See, feels good right?" The blond said-"Stop this please..." The blond laughed and he watched the Joker's eyes scrunch up-he was panting like he was running a race. "It's not me doing you." Oh, oh god...He hadn't been joking and even though he was the one forcing this, it was the Joker inside of him. God, that was pretty fucked up.

  
"Kid, I got one of my hands free-I'm going to undo your's but don't try anything, He's got a lot of guards and their not stupid." Joker whispered, how long had the Joker been here? The whole two weeks that he'd been missing or shorter? He felt rather than saw Joker's pale hand shift to one of his restrains, if the blond man looked up...Another whisper caught his attention; "Kid relax, he won't-too busy watching." Since when had The Joker been a mind reader? He let out a whine that he hadn't meant to and Joker closed his eyes for a moment, "Don't do that kid-that just excites him...And me." Oh god, he wanted to gag but he knew Joker would get pretty pissed off if he threw up on him.

  
It felt like forever before there was a knock on the door and a beefy body guard type man walked in. The blond, for he didn't know the man's name let out a snarl and a string of insults. "What is it? Can't you see that I'm busy?" The body guard simply and rather calmly spoke, he'd must have seen this scenario enough times for it not to bother him-but shouldn't he be bothered by the fact it was The Joker and well-maybe he wouldn't know he was Robin given that he wasn't wearing anything of his suit other than his mask...

  
"Sir, the business you were dealing with is insisting to talk with you." The blond let out a breath and followed the body guard-nude as the day he was born. The door slammed and he shifted; "Wait-he'll come back for his robe." Richard frowned, how long had the man been captive to know that kind of detail? The blond raced back in with a wicked grin and threw the robe on before leaving again and the Joker moved pulling out of him and then pulling his hands out of restraints that he'd managed to get out of-he'd have to learn to do that too. Joker reached up and unfastened his wrist, and then frowned; "You're in my way-I can't get my feet." Richard laughed bitterly; "That's fine because I can."

  
And he bent backwards and undid one of Jokers legs and one of his own. He pulled himself upward-He needed a breath before he could do the others-but Joker was taking care of those as he pulled up his free leg and leaned to the side to get the others-he'd have to remember how flexible The Joker was given that his leg was straight out and he could still untie his ankle. "Remind me to look you up when we're out of this mess yeah?" Joker muttered as he sat back up. Richard chuckled, he was pretty sure he wouldn't because the last thing he needed was the Joker finding out who he was.

They scrambled out of bed-but with out clothes where would they go? The Joker strolled away deeper into the extravagant rooms. "Come on, there's a closet-though given how tall and broad that bastard is his clothes will fit you." Richard caught up to the Joker just as the man entered the closet. "Or not-hell he has all sorts of clothes in here and not all of them would fit him!" He must have lovers or they were souvenirs of his victims. The guy was a class A creep that was for sure. They looked around and threw on what would fit them-he'd managed jeans and a tee, Joker scored slacks and a button up-which he left unbuttoned and a hat, yeah if he wanted to go anywhere he'd need to hide his green hair. "Lets get out of this joint." He then frowned, almost as if he were talking to himself he muttered; "I don't think the fire escape is on this side..." Richard shook his head; "The only way out other than the door is through the skylight." Joker cursed. But given this was a whole apartment inside of an apartment practically with an island just by the skylight-he could get out. Good thing he'd grabbed the rope he'd spotted in the closet.

  
He opened the skylight with the chain hidden on the wall, Joker frowned; "I don't know about you kid, but I can't jump that high." Richard flashed him a smile and then the rope. "Ah, but can you hold my weight?" He shrugged at the Jokers shrewd look, if it became a problem-well he'd just try to find Batman to help the man out. Though of course Batman would send The Joker back to Arkham. "We'll get to that if it's a problem." Joker nodded and watched him jump, catch the ledge and make his way up onto the roof. Before he threw down the rope, he knew he'd be able to hold the Joker's slight weight because honestly the man should eat more often.

  
Joker popped up as quickly as he could and scrambled onto the roof, closing the skylight while he was at it. They rushed to the fire escape and onto it quickly but as they went down Richard growled, he had no way to contact Bruce, how was he going to get home? "Come on kid lets get that mask off before people start to wonder." Joker's hand reached for the mask and he backed away. "I don't think so." Joker rolled his eyes; "Yeah smart thinking kid-people on the street will wonder why Richard Grayson is wearing a domino mask and then suddenly before you know it one of them connect you to being Robin." 

Oh fuck-"You knew?" Joker nodded; "The money's one thing-easy for someone like Wayne to give away-but a kid? Nope, he's Batman and your Robin." And he slid the mask off of Richard's shocked face before shoving the thing into his breast-pocket. Turning away he began walking down the fire escape every once in a while buttoning his shirt. This night was just getting stranger and stranger... They hit the street, but where would he go? how would he explain to any of the people that could help him? "Come on, I know someone willing to help and pretty good at keeping her trap shut."

Her? God not another Harley like woman, how many would he con? Joker must have caught the look on his face; "She's nothing like Harley kid-She knows I wouldn't touch a woman even if I was paid to." Wait, what the hell? "So you're completely celibate? That must drive Quinn up the wall." Joker chuckled; "Yeah, she doesn’t get it, though. Too bad for her I guess." Though that said he didn't get it either, why would the Joker-who often made inappropriate jokes all the time chose to be celibate? He knew why he'd never go far with a woman-though he doubted that was the same reason as the Joker...Or at least he hoped so because some of those inappropriate jokes were aimed at Batman. Was it possible that the Joker was well, gay and if that was the case did he actually have-dare he say it? A crush on the dark knight?  
  
"Before we get there I want to ask you something personal." Joker said softly as if afraid that someone would over hear-there weren't many people on the streets at this time of night, nor in this cold for that matter. "Sure, ask away." He really had nothing to hide from the madman after all. First they'd been forced to have sex, and the Joker showed the card up his sleeve by telling him that he knew who he was. "Was that your first time?" He was pretty sure his face was as red as a tomato. "Yeah..." He didn't want to admit it but, hey this was the man who'd been forced to take his V card. "Shit, sorry kiddo-If I only hadn't been caught..." Joker got this far away look in his eyes, it hadn't been his fault. "How did he nab you anyhow?" Joker frowned; "That's what I'd like to know-I think one of my guys gave me up, or at least was tortured into doing it." Well that wasn't very good.


	4. Bound for a Friend's

They made it only a few streets over to a rather nice block of apartments and up several flights of stairs. "Be nice to her, she's a good person that just so happens to like me." Someone good liking the Joker? That sounded kind of strange. He followed the man to a door, 606...He'd keep that in mind. Someone opened the door quickly and let them in. The door shut behind him and a beautiful redhead smiled at them. "I take it there's a reason you brought Grayson with you Jack?" Jack? Who the? Joker smiled; "Would it help to tell you we were kidnapped by the same fucker?" The redhead nodded; "Actually yeah, it would. Come in, lets get some food in you two yeah?" He was hungry... "A shower would be nice too Susan." The woman giggled; "Yeah, sorry-It's just every time I see you I want to stuff your face full of food." He was pretty skinny after all, it made sense. Joker, or 'Jack' as Susan called him dragged him away to a bathroom.

  
And boy was it a bathroom, it was huge-not as huge as Bruce's but still it was pretty big, tinted glass separated the shower from the rest of the room, the thing took up half the room by itself. There were several shower heads in the shower 'room', He heard rustling behind him and turned-the Joker with his back to him was throwing his shirt into the metal trash can, then chucked his pants-the hat must have already gone in. Joker caught sight of him staring and grinned. "I hate the fucker, and his clothes should go to hell. Since I can't make him go to hell just now." He understood that, Joker glanced at him and then walked calmly up to him-grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling upwards. He allowed the man to strip him and throw the rest of the blonds clothes into the trash as well-he wasn't certain where the Joker had gotten his hands on the match but the man threw that into the trash too, "Hey!" Joker threw a lid on to the thing with a grin. "I'm not about to burn the place down kid, just want to get rid of that shit is all." and the Joker pushed him into the shower 'room' before throwing him a bottle of shampoo from his side of the room.

  
"Susan has guest over all the time. Hence all the stuff in here." There were plenty of things in the shower that was for sure, though there had been no shampoo on his side there was a handful of conditioner bottles and an store's worth of body wash. Susan must have some pretty strange parties... "The last time she had a party before this shower was built, a guy puked all over a few people. Susan decided that if people weren't overly shy they could use the shower-that or if they really wanted to get out of puke covered clothes at any rate." Once again it seemed like The Joker was reading his mind! "How do you do that?" Joker frowned; "What? Know what you're thinking? Simple-it's written all over your face. I've always been good at reading people."

  
That did seem to be the case, after all he'd tricked Harley from day one. They stepped out and Joker walked towards a closet within the bathroom, it led to a walk in closet-that had mostly women's clothing but there was a small place that had men's-from the looks of the clothes, Jokers. One of his purple suits hung at the very end. Joker skipped over it for something more comfortable before throwing some at Richard. "It'll be a bit too long leg wise but that should fit you." They were old, he could tell that much, but well washed and maintained. They were too big in the shoulders for Joker though because they fit his and the legs were a bit too long but it wasn't too bad. Joker had chosen a dark brown sweater and some sweatpants. Joker looked odd in them, but then again he'd always thought the man looked strange when he wasn't in his purple suit.

They entered the living room and he decided now would be a good time to ask for the phone;  
"Um, could I use your phone? I wanna call home." Susan fetched her cell phone and tossed it at him. "Call away honey. Jack-Don't you roll your eyes at me!" Joker laughed, and not that long, crazy one that he was use to. He stayed in the living room while the other two walked away into what looked like the kitchen. "Hello?" Alfred, how did he explain this to Alfred. "Hi Alfred." He couldn't believe it really that's all he could come up with? "Master Dick! Where are you?" Okay so maybe he'd been missed after all. "I got caught by someone and well-I need to be picked up." They chatted for a moment more before he hung up and walked to the possible kitchen and Susan thanked him when he handed her, her phone back.

  
"So, getting picked up?" He nodded; "Yeah, thanks for letting me use your phone." Susan smiled; "Hungry? I've got some chili in the croc pot." Joker was already eating some, it smelled really good. "If you don't mind." Susan smiled brighter; "I wouldn't offer if I didn't mean to fatten everyone up." and she went to fetch him a bowl. "So Jack do you want to talk about how this happened?" Joker frowned, and shoved his spoon a bit too forcefully into his bowl. "I rather not, I'm planning on killing the bastard who did this." Well, he'd like to get in on that-but he couldn't kill. It wouldn't change anything-but god knows what the man did to Joker in his time with him. "I take it wasn't a very pleasant time." Her voice had gone all dark, maybe she wasn't as good as Joker had made her out to be. She handed him a bowl, Joker gave him a look. "If you want to share that’s fine with me." He had the feeling the man would tell her anyway. Joker nodded, a sour look on his face. "He raped me and forced me on Grayson." Susan's jaw dropped; "Oh Jesus." Joker looked away; "He knew I was going to escape Arkham. Caught me right out of it." Susan looked sick as she clutched the counter. "I'm going to fucking kill the bastard." That actually was alarming, she looked so angry and well he couldn't blame her. She really did seem like she was fond of The Joker.

  
They ate silently for a while; "I've got cheesecake if you two would like some." Food seemed to be her way of trying to make people feel better. "Thanks Susan-Kid you have to try it, best there ever was." Susan chuckled from the fridge and damn the cake looked good too. "Okay." She cut three slices and put them on plates. Before setting them in front of each of them. "Raspberry chocolate. This one's favorite, actually now that I think about it-it's mine too." Susan and The Joker laughed and he couldn't help but to chuckle with them. Susan's phone went off and she answered. "Oh, okay-he'll be right down." Richard frowned, now he wouldn't get to eat some of the cake... Susan smiled at him; "You're rides here. Promise to bring the plate back and I'll wrap it for you." He promised and she used foil to cover his slice. What did he say to The Joker though? He turned to the man, who was fast asleep. Drooling slightly on the island, well that certainly was a sight. "Poor man, must have stayed awake the whole time he was there." He'd have to ask her about that some other time.

  
"Thanks." She shooed him out and closed the door gently. "Your welcome." She led the way to the elevator, which opened almost at once for them. They got in and the doors closed; "Thanks for giving him a reason to come over. He hardly does, barely gets any sleep unless he's here." But seriously she knew she was playing with fire right? "He could hurt you." She shook her head; "Not likely, I mean yeah, he could. But, we're family and all that Jazz. It's kind of funny-his outlook on family. He's never hurt me before...But you're right, I've always been so unguarded around him." So, family, that made a certain amount of sense. "So, he knows who he use to be?" She nodded; "Sometimes he does, it's clearer when he's with me." The elevator dinged and they stepped off, walking in the lobby Susan waved to a doorman; "Kid came to visit you huh Susan?" She laughed at the guards question; "Yeah, Uncle Jack brought him over." Uncle? Wait, how old was the man? Because Susan had to be mid to late twenties.

Alfred was waiting by the car, "If you ever need me, for anything don't hesitate to call okay?" He nodded, Alfred wrote down her number in a little notebook-even though he'd gotten it on his cell phone and they parted ways. "I take it tonight has been very stressful?" Alfred asked softly; "Yeah, though I don't want to tell you when you're driving, don't want you crashing." Alfred frowned; "That doesn’t sound very good." Richard agreed and what had happened had been pretty bad-though obviously the Joker...Jack had gone through far more than he had.


	5. Nightmare Bound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Both Joker and Richard in this chapter, but in separate parts

He was back, the blond smirking at him. He didn't want to be here-no! "NO!" He felt rather than saw a dark figure at the end of his bed cursing up a storm. A lamp flicked on and he suddenly realized where he was. "Oh god, Susan." She was back at his side, sitting down next to him and he curled up to her side as she patted his back. "It's okay, You're at my place-he can't get you here-doesn’t even know you're here." He wasn't entirely sure about that, but Susan was right. He couldn't break into this apartment without someone seeing and trying to stop him. But, Jesus. He didn't want to go back-he wanted nothing to do with the blond again. "Are you okay Susan?" She chuckled; "I'm good Uncle Jay, You barely swatted me." He hated when he accidentally hit her, Susan was the last living member of his family-the last reminder of what he had once been. Sometimes he hated to be reminded, but more often than not lately he'd found comfort in her presence.  
  
"You should put some ice on it." Susan let out a breath; "Are you going to be okay?" He nodded, though he was pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. "Do you want me to sleep in here with you?" He'd like to curl up to her, but he was still frightened and him being frightened did bad things to his mind, and to the people around him. "No, I don't want to hurt you again...I'll be fine. Go back to sleep." She nodded and hugged him tightly before leaving the room. He flopped back on his bed, Susan didn't deserve to deal with his shit...But she promised to be there for him and he doubted he could make it to his usual haunts and not kill something in the process given the way he was feeling right now.  
  
Some times he felt like he was using Susan, but she'd laughed when he told her that once, saying that family should stick together no matter what. Like him going around killing so many people was just an addiction problem or something...He was sick, he knew that sometimes-knew it when he was with Susan and she still treated him like a normal person. It made him feel better more often than not-he'd run to her when things got a little too out of hand-when he got sick of seeing his Hench men, of Harley. They would wonder of course where he'd gone, Harley most of all and he didn't blame her. She could see the change in him, she had been a psychologist after all. It would take more than his brain washing to undo that. Sometimes he could see the woman he'd first met...What if she had never met him, what if he had never shown interest? It was never romantic on his part, how could it be? He might pretend with women but he knew he was more interested in men. A certain young man popped into his minds eye.  
  
Richard Grayson...Now that was a young man he could get to like, after all he was rather dashing and had a quick mind and god was he flexible! The way he just bent over and undid their bindings-he'd trained to keep that kind of flexibility, had to have. But, it was kind of wrong. Because he remembered the young man as a preteen. He was older, if anything Grayson was closer to Susan's age, though Susan had just turned thirty a month ago. Grayson was going to collage, so early twenties. He was pretty sure the young man was almost done with school though. Susan and he however didn't actually know how old he was-Susan had been twelve or thirteen at least when she'd first met him and he would have had to have been in his late teens, early twenties at the most so that meant he could be at most in his late thirties to early forties for god sake.  
  
Not to mention that Grayson was also Robin, boy if daddy bats found out he was thinking about the little birdy that way he'd beat him worse than he'd ever beaten him. Yes, that would be something to avoid...But, it would be nice to see Richard again. The young man was interesting that was certain, and since he didn't often meet interesting people in mostly healthy conditions it would be well worth spending more time than normal with Susan.

 

****Richard****

He didn't know why he decided to come back, or at least not this late at night, well early morning. But, he wanted to see The Joker, was the man even still with Susan at this point? It had been a few days since...The kidnapping. When he'd gotten home and found himself in his room, did he actually freak out-he'd ended up hanging over the toilet most of that morning. How could that Blond man do that to him? To The Joker for that matter!  
  
So here he was at Susan's door. Waiting to see if someone would answer it. Susan opened the door with a scowl only for her face to smooth out. "Come in." She closed the door behind him and put the ice pack she was holding to her face. "Are you alright?" He asked and she nodded; "I take it you had a nightmare too huh?" Susan asked as she walked into the kitchen, a kettle sat on the stove, the coils underneath it red.  
  
"Too? Did Joker have one tonight?" She nodded; "I tried to wake him and got swatted at-barely hit me but, I don't want my face to swell and make him guilty as hell in the morning." So the Joker could feel guilt, he'd always wondered if the Joker felt anything at all, and the man had shown him how wrong he was. The hatred burning in his eyes, the amusement at his reaction to finding out the Joker knew who he was under the mask, the way he'd looked at Susan, there was something akin to fondness in those acid green eyes.  
  
It was odd to realize that The Joker was really just a man, a man who was very sick in the head and just needed someone to help him. Because, sometimes there was a sane man hiding in the wings waiting to come out. "I did have a nightmare-but I didn't...I just had to see him." Susan sighed; "Well there he is." Richard turned and spotted the Joker, he was wearing a oversized shirt and checkered pajama pants. "Hey kid, what brings you over?" As if he didn't just hear. The kettle whistled and Susan took out three cups. Putting what looked like cocoa powder in the bottoms of each before pouring hot water in. Susan set the cups in front of them before putting the kettle back on the stove.

Joker grabbed a purple and green spotted cup, and he grabbed a black one. Which turned out to have a cat face on one side, Susan took the last one. "So, both of you are having nightmares, that's not exactly healthy." Joker laughed; "Since when have I been healthy?" Susan snorted. "Years ago. So Grayson, how have you been holding up?" He blinked; "Call me Richard-and not so good...I've been having a lot of nightmares. Bruce has been worried about me." Joker actually perked at the name drop. "Did you tell him what happened?" 

And really? My relationship with Bruce was a strange one, sometimes I counted him a father figure, a mentor, but it was so hard sometimes, he could be endlessly cold, other times cheerful and warm. It was hard to tell what was the real him and what was fake. "No, I...I couldn't tell him it all." Joker sighed; "I know that it wouldn't be any good if I attacked him, what would happen to him other than death? I don't want him to have a quick death-I want him to suffer." Susan's eyes darkened at her uncles admission and this wasn't really like him, why hadn't he gone and attacked Gibon already?

He knew he was playing with fire but he couldn't help himself-after seeing the Joker the way he had. There was so much more to his madness, so much more beyond it as well. They knew he was smart-how many times had he almost killed them after all? Far more times then the others that was for sure, even if most of them swore they had almost got em stories, and yet for all those times-he never actually went all the way through-no matter how much he blamed someone else, it was him that wouldn't complete the murder, yet he'd killed pleanty of other people.  
  
Bruce was going out of his mind at this point, he didn't know what Richard had to go through-didn't even guess what it was ailing his eldest. How could he tell him anyway? It was terrible, he felt unclean and unfit now that Ramaro Gibon had taken from him something he had no right to take.  
  
"Kiddo, you know visiting me and Susan isn't helping you out." Helping out? "What do you mean?" Joker sighed; "I mean no doubt that the Bat follows you here-never quite knowing which apartment you're coming to." But he could find out or actually might already know, after all Alfred had come to get him and he must have known which apartment Susan lived in...Crap-Bruce will then know that he was visiting the Joker and he would take the Joker in and never quite trust either of them around the other. "I don't want to stop though." Spilled out of his mouth before he could properly think that one through. Joker smiled, no not that crazy wide one, a smaller one. "I don't think I've ever been wanted before-other than Susan." Was that-why?


	6. Bound to Seek

He knew something was wrong when Susan shooed him away from the door and motioned for him to hide, why though was he hiding? "Hello Mister Wayne, sorry it took me so long to answer the door." Oh gods, he knew this would happen. Though Richard's words still sent a tingle of thrill through him-who knew the young man would bond with him so well after what happened to them? He could always out the Batman and come clean to the man, but what would Grayson do? Hopefully not hate him, because he was pretty sure he'd rather not have the young man too mad at him.  
  
"I heard you have an unusual visitor." Wayne said in a harsh tone. Susan made a noise and he burst out of the room to find that Susan's wrist was in Wayne's grasp. "Let her go!" and he barreled into the man. They both fell onto the couch and the couch turned, Wayne got a punch in and he bit down on the man's arm, Wayne let out a harsh shout and punched him in the head. "Stop it!" Susan yelled and they both stared at the end of a revolver. Where had she gotten that? "Susan." He didn't want her to use the gun-she was far better a person than he ever was and she didn't need to be shooting anyone, She snarled at Wayne- "He left it one day, I'm not sure if it's a joke one or not so you had better step away from him."  
  
Wayne rose his hands and stepped away from him, he made his way to Susan and took the gun out of her hands and tossed it onto the overturned couch. "Never hold a gun again Susan." She frowned, but her hands had been shaking-she hadn't wanted to even point the thing at them. "Alright." Wayne looked confused. "What are you doing with a madman in your home." She laughed; "You mean two right, because right now you're here too. Batman." So she knew too, how though? He'd never mentioned it to her, so what was going on? "I don't know what you're talking about." She laughed; "Either you are the man, and I'm inclined to think so or you fund him and give your children to the cause-that's why I know it's you. You protect Richard with your life when you two are out and about."  
  
Wayne frowned; "If it helps I already knew too. Though I found out a different way than just guessing." Susan frowned; "Well okay yeah-I guessed." Wayne looked irritated. "Leave Richard alone." He really couldn't now that the man had his attention though, it wasn't like he was trying to corrupt him, to make him the same way he was. "We went through something together-I'm not surprised that he keeps coming back, I'm the only one that understands." Wayne frowned; "What are you talking about?" He really was dense wasn't he? Or at least pretending to be. He had to know something was up the moment he realized Richard was missing, the moment he turned back up.

  
"When your little bird disappeared didn't you wonder where he'd gotten to?" He looked frustrated...Did Richard really tell him so little? "He said he'd been in a fight, but he didn't say much else." Wayne conceded. Great, just what he needed to deal with, Wayne in the dark about what had happened to his own adopted son. Though it was Richard who needed to tell the man about what happened to him-so he'd amend the truth a little.  
  
"He found me-kidnapped and harmed..." He just didn't want to tell either, he understood why Richard was keeping it close to his chest. Wayne frowned, didn't he get the picture? "You know I think you're purposely being dense-Robin found me tied to a bed and raped." Wayne's jaw dropped, which was pretty comical if it hadn't been so dire a situation. Though he did feel a tad bit better now that he'd told the alter ego of Batman-it still wasn't enough to get rid of his pain, nor the need to bash the damned blonds’ face in.  
  
"He-that's why he's been coming here. He's been worried about you-the nightmares were about finding you that way." He nodded, close but not quite-though why he didn't just tell the man his dick had been inside his son. Well, okay so maybe he didn't want to be punched in the face for telling the truth and since when had he ever told the whole truth to batsy anyway?

 

****Richard****

Bruce kept giving me funny looks, "You used the computer-but you didn't tell me why, going so far as to delete the fact you were even on the computer. You kept visiting an apartment but wouldn't talk about it. Why-what is going on Dick?" I sighed; "I just didn't know what to tell you...I it was a mess-I'm still a mess from what happened." Bruce nodded; "I visited the apartment you kept going to." My whole body froze, ice cloying up my veins-oh my god. "And?" He breathed harshly through his nose.  
  
"He told me what happened." Oh, well-but what exactly did the Joker tell him? Because as much as the Joker loves throwing the truth at people he also lied through his teeth at times too. "Oh...Um." Bruce sighed; "You could have talked to me, I understand why you wouldn't-because finding someone in that kind of situation is hard." So Joker had lied to him. If the Joker had told him the truth then he wouldn't be so damned calm, or at least he hoped that when he told him he wouldn't be, that he actually cared. "That's not quite the whole truth." Bruce frowned; "And what is?"

Jesus, talk about loaded question. "I didn't just find him that way-I was captured and shown what was going on...Before they forced me on him." Bruce's eyes shut tightly, his knuckles going all white-oh god he was angry. "That's why you used the computer, to find out their names." I shrugged; "Only one guy-with a lot of guards who really couldn't give a flying fuck about what was going on under their noses. I found out his name."  
  
Bruce let out a breath; "Dose he know the man's name?" I nodded; "I kind of told him." Bruce still wasn't looking at me. "I'm surprised you want anything to do with him or have you forgotten how dangerous he is?" Actually he had forgotten. Because between the pain, fear, and confusion he'd forgotten just how ruthless and well rooted into the underbelly of Gotham Joker really was. Seeing him slightly more sane than usual would do that to you he guessed.  
  
"Susan seems to tame him I guess, I've been shown a new version of him-a version that might actually have a future. That it made me forget that he was a insane, homicidal, villain." And honestly he thought it was just a big Joke on the Jokers part, he wasn't quite as Insane as he tried to pretend he was-and he was a really good liar, better than most.  
  
"You could have told me." He could have; "I just didn't want to talk about it-there's nothing we can do against Gibon." There never would be, because all he knew he'd forced the Joker to take Robin-not that he was Robin and if he told anyone that the man had done those things to him, then they would know he was Robin. That would lead them to Bruce and the end of Batman, that could never happen. He couldn't be the reason Bruce fell, that Batman fell. What would happen to the people of Gotham if there ever wasn't a batman to help fight crime?


	7. Bound to See

Waking up to Richard in my arms was new, then again maybe the young man just usually got up before I did. Which wouldn't really surprise me that much, Batsy no doubt made sure everyone woke early even after a long night so they didn't seem suspicious. Though, if they were tired after a long night that wasn't really that suspicious considering that Wayne was still considered a playboy which was a load of crock because there was no way the bat would dare bring around a bunch of stick like blonds lest they find out what was really going on in his manor.

Richard's phone went off, causing said man to fling away towards his phone freaking out for some reason. Richard picked his phone up and straightened, "Hello?" He hissed, his eyes darting to me, widening when he realised I was up. Yes, hello sweetheart I'm up too! I nearly cackled, but that would be bad. People knew my laugh nearly better than I did at this point.

"No, hi-I just got up is all. No Bab's I'm fine!" Bab's? Who would name their kid that? That was a terrible name! Richard hummed, "No, did he say something?" I stretched, this was boring. Might as well go see if Susan was up too though I doubted that one. She and I were night owls, but we slept in late. Susan was trying to get out of that habit but it wasn't exactly working for her.

"Good morning sunshine," Susan said from in front of the stove as I passed her to get to the coffee pot. "Morning Susan, do I smell bacon?" She giggled, "Yep in the oven. I'm almost done with the eggs. Is Richard up?" I nodded and poured coffee into my mug and hunted for the sugar and creamer. "You know he's really helped mellow you out." I frowned, the nightmares were getting less, that might be why. Though, I supposed that he might be the cause for that to be the case.

"Are you comfortable being different than you were? I mean you haven't...Challenged authority for a while now." I didn't have a reason to just yet, I was healing you could say. Richard needed this me more than I needed to be The Joker. Maybe I needed this me too, but eventually, I would be that part of me again. I never lasted very long without that kind of rush.

"Good morning guys," Richard said rather sheepishly; "Sorry if I woke you earlier." I waved a hand at him; "I was already awake for some god awful reason." He laughed and then the laughter and the smile on his face faded; "Um, I was wondering if I could ask you something." Taken aback I frowned, what exactly did he want to ask me with that serious an expression?

"And what would that be kiddo?" He bit his lower lip and wouldn't look me in the eyes. "I mean, I don't know what Bruce would say, but it could be a way to help you." What? "And what is that little birdy? My uncle help you and the big bad bat?" Susan cut in and whoa, what? "Do I look like the kind of guy that would be a hero?" Jestering to myself, Richard chuckled; "No, and that's not what I meant. I mean you could help us with big fights, you wouldn't have to save anyone, I never thought you would do that kind of stuff. More like just sneak up and surprise people, give them a good laugh. Well, without the killing bit course."

That could be interesting, but that also could be a disaster. I could fall back into my old ways way easier, on the other hand, it could take out some of the stress I felt being here...Being normal, boring. Susan hissed and pulled away from the stove, "I see where your heading..." Susan frowned and put her hand under the faucet, turning the water on. "But, don't you think that could tempt me to be well violent again?" Richard sighed; "You're right...But, I suppose I wasn't really thinking." Susan chuckled; "No, you were, and it is a good idea, you should run it by the big bat too." I supposed it wouldn't hurt every once in a blue moon.

"We could try it and see where it goes if he agrees to it." Which knowing the bat, he wouldn't easily. But, it would be nice working next to Richard in that wonderful Robin getup of his and it would help with my urge to get out of the apartment for a bit. "I like it, talk to daddy bats and see what he thinks like Susan suggested." Richard smiled and relaxed. "Don't you have school today?" Susan asked and Richard looked at the clock; "Oh! I'm going to be late!" He turned and rushed away from us, "Well. That was eventful." Susan said dryly, that was selling it short. "Yeah, real blast that one." We looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. I was really interested in what Batsy thought of that little remark and if Richard would actually ask him.


End file.
